How we Work is All About Who we are
Mettro solves business problems with digital strategy, design and solutions. We know exactly what we’re doing and why the hell we’re doing it. And we should – we’ve been around for 16 years, which is about a thousand in digital years.
We’ve been around the block and we’re all about sharing the love. We’re really proud of the systems we have in place that help us deliver great projects for our clients. We are known for consistently delivering quality outcomes. Here is an outline of how we work on a project.
1. Project kick-off
In Mettro’s project kick-off meeting, we get into the nitty-gritty of a project. We discuss the details of the brief as well as:
- the outcomes our client wants from the project (we love a good KPI!)
- what our client wants their customer experience to be and what action they want customers to take
- content – what’s existing, what needs to be created, who is going to create it?
- milestones
- timeframes (ours and our client’s)
- creative concepts
- technicalities
- content and other items we require to get the job moving.
Mettro encourages clients to bring a mood board or examples of elements they like. This is the fastest way for us to understand how our client sees the project coming together. There is no such thing as too much information and the project kick-off meeting is the time to work through it all and highlight the key areas of importance.
2. Content
Content isn’t just an important part of the project, it’s at the very core of everything we are working on together. We have content experts that can help with every aspect of this step.
Content is so much more complex than just words or images on a page. Words, images, calls to actions, forms, animations, videos and more. This is all part of the content parcel. We find the best outcomes are those that involve a combination of our clients knowledge to gather all of the relevant information and then our know-how to pull it together.
Elements that are important to consider here are:
- calls to action
- content strategy and design
- is the content consistent with the brand voice and style
- the image style – and do we need to source images?
- SEO – how important is it to this project and does our client have an SEO provider?
We tell our clients to not leave their content until the last minute as this means in 99% of cases it’s rushed and not to the standard it should be. There is no use us building a site that is based on beautiful big images when there are no beautiful big images available and no budget to produce or buy them. That’s why we talk about content right up front.
3. Concept and planning
We work on the concept, and plan the project in more detail, focusing on:
- vision and intent
- concept design/look and feel
- the tasks we need to undertake to deliver the project.
Producing a detailed and precise plan at this stage is important because it helps us avoid costly goalpost moving down the track. We like our clients to really get involved from the start so they can either jump on board with both feet or explain in detail what they would like us to change. Once we start work, changes can be costly – both in time and finances.
4. Schedule
Once we’ve completed the above steps, we can provide a detailed schedule. We work hard to adhere to the schedule, and we ask our clients to provide materials we ask for in a timely manner to avoid pushing our schedule out.
5. Production
Production, for us, is an iterative process. We like our clients to be available to speak with us regularly, to review our progress and keep lines of communication open. We also require our clients to set aside time for testing and quality assurance throughout the process, not just at the end.
We work to a structure but that doesn’t mean we’re not flexible. We work with our clients to achieve their goals, but we can’t move forward to a new phase until the current phase is spot on. We’re transparent and we invite feedback along the way.
We don’t offer fixed prices when we quote on a project because of the potential for variables to arise at every stage.
6. Delivery
This is the exciting part of the project where we prepare for go-live. Mettro asks our clients to make adequate time for thorough user acceptance testing, which means:
- reading all the content
- clicking through absolutely everything
- looking at the site on all agreed-upon devices.
We ask our clients to help the process to go smoothly by:
- being available
- asking for training if they need it
- having their technology and server ready well before the go-live date
- completing their go-live approval document, at which point they take control of the site.
7. Maintain
To keep a website running at its peak effectiveness, regular maintenance is necessary. This includes:
- updating programs and plug-ins
- updating content
- reviewing site statistics
- keeping up with browser updates.
Mettro offers a support service where we take care of all of this, or clients can do it themselves. Neglecting updates risks the security and stability of the site and we strongly advise prioritising regular maintenance.
As you can see, we are all about open communication, transparency, and delivering great outcomes. Mettro loves producing quality work, and we get a thrill out of exceeding our clients’ expectations and watching their businesses soar. When our clients succeed, we succeed.